Overview

• Massachusetts General Brigham researchers studied 2,945 adults in the United Kingdom aged 42–94 with more than 20 years of follow-up.
• Participants with later eating patterns had a 10-year survival rate of 86.7% compared with 89.5% among earlier eaters, with delayed breakfast emphasized as the standout marker.
• The lead author says breakfast timing changes in older adults could serve as an easy-to-track indicator of emerging physical or mental health issues.
• A separate Barcelona analysis of over 100,000 French adults linked each hour of breakfast delay to a 6% higher cardiovascular risk and dinners after 9 p.m. to a 28% higher cerebrovascular risk.
• Both reports are observational, leaving room for confounding and reverse causation, while proposed mechanisms center on circadian biology and support guidance to shift eating earlier.